


I may be hopeless but I'm a romantic too

by averypottermormon



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Castiel is a hopeless romantic, Hopeless Romantic, Love at First Sight, M/M, Mechanic Dean Winchester, Social Worker Castiel, first encounters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-23
Updated: 2014-05-23
Packaged: 2018-01-26 04:41:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1675028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/averypottermormon/pseuds/averypottermormon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel is new in South Dakota, and as luck would have it, his car has broken down, so he goes and asks around for the best mechanic in the area.  He winds up at Singer Auto.</p>
<p>And as luck would have it, Castiel isn't the only one who knows about phones and voice frequency.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I may be hopeless but I'm a romantic too

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for a post on tumblr that wound up being longer than a "drabble." Enjoy and comment if you can :)

"I’ll be damned if I can’t fix it," the man on the phone had said. He’d sounded pretty confident. The man had also sounded a little rough around the edges and he probably had a shady criminal background and a rough exterior, but he sounded confident in his abilities to fix whatever was rattling in the engine, and that was enough for Castiel.

They’d agreed that Cas (who gives someone they’ve never met a nickname over the phone?) would bring his car over to Singer Auto that afternoon. The man he’d talked to was apparently the best in the state. Castiel had asked everyone he knew. That, however, wasn’t quite that many, as he was new to South Dakota; he’d just moved here a month and a half ago for work as part of a promotion from his boss Zachariah. When Castiel was hired, he asked about why everyone seemed to have a religious name; his other boss’s name was Michael, who had a brother named Luce who left the company their father founded when he disappeared, leaving practically everything to Michael. He didn’t ever get a clear answer.

Cas thought it was weird, though.

The tow truck arrived just after Castiel had finished cleaning up after lunch. After getting the old Corolla on the back of the truck, he hopped into the cab and took the ten minute drive across town. When they arrived, Castiel didn’t know they had arrived anywhere - what was there looked like a run-down barn and an abandoned house surrounded by a junk yard filled with old car and car parts.

The day was gray and a slight breeze brought dry leaves out of the trees that still had some to lose. It was a little chilly, and a shiver went up Castiel’s spine as he hopped down out of the truck cabin. He thanked the driver as they brought his car back down to the ground.

The owner of the shop, Bobby was outside to help with the unloading.

"Thank you, again," Castiel said, "for seeing me on such short notice."

Bobby seemed to be taken aback by Castiel. His gravelly voice didn’t exactly match the dark hair, bright blue eyes, suit and trench coat that happened to be the rest of Castiel’s appearance

"No problem, Cas," the older man said as they watched the tow truck drove out the dusty driveway they came in on. "Dean should be out here in a minute. He’s the guy you talked to on the phone."

Castiel nodded. He’d apparently have to get used to the new nickname. Everyone here seemed to be using it.

"How about you head inside? The house is a little messy, but you can hang around here until we’re done?" Bobby suggested, putting his hand on Castiel’s back, between his shoulder blades.

"Alright, thank you," Castiel replied, and left the car dealings to Bobby, and started to head towards the only door he could see, up on the porch.

He reached the door and put his hand on the knob. He looked back at Bobby who smiled at him and nodded as his eyes followed Castiel to the house. Smiling back briefly, he turned back to the door and turned the knob and went inside.

Bobby was right to warn him; it was definitely a mess, but it was clearly organized chaos. There were books and stacks of papers everywhere. A few coats hung on the coat stand, but Castiel was too comfortable with his on, and a little unnerved that there wasn’t an office. He’d thought there’d been an office, but he guessed he could have been wrong.

The house was old, and the walls were covered in old wallpaper. The floorboards creaked under his footfalls. Bobby was single, it was clear; a wife would have never let the house get so cluttered, nor would she have let the house stay in the 1970s.

Upon closer inspection, most of the books on Bobby’s shelves and most of the papers were about something religious in nature, something that was close to Castiel’s heart. He himself was named after an angel, the angel of Thursday, to be precise, and his brother Gabe was named after the archangel Gabriel. This just added to his confusion about the entire company filled with employees named after angels. After all, his dad was one person; the fact that there were other people like him was a little odd.

He was looking through a book about Buddhism he’d pulled off the shelf when a voice echoed through the house, the source nearing with every word. He turned as the voice came closer.

"Hey Bobby! Where did you put those wrenches? I’m gonna need them for the next-"

Possibly the most gorgeous man Castiel had ever seen walks around the corner and stops mid-sentence and mid-step.

Castiel blinks twice and just returned this man’s stare. He has the most beautiful mossy green eyes, and freckles spread across the bridge of his nose and cheeks.

Castiel can feel heat rising in his cheeks, because damn this man was gorgeous. He never got any attention from anyone, never mind any males. He’s never been attracted to women, and for a long time he was afraid of admitting that, but in the past few years there’s been enough stability and support that he’s been able to actually be himself. In the back of his mind, he thinks that coming out to his coworkers as gay was part of his reason that he was transferred to South Dakota in the first place, what with the entire company being so staunchly religious and all.

They both started to speak at the same time.

"Bobby is outsi-"

"Sorry, I’m just lo-"

They both laugh.

"He said to-"

"I was ju-"

Another awkward laugh.

The beautiful man holds up his hands to keep him from saying anything. Instead of keeping him quiet, the man extends his hands and says with a dazzling smile, “You first.”

Castiel is awkward, only because this entire meeting with this incredibly handsome stranger is awkward. Castiel is usually very good with people, listening intently and knowing exactly what they need. Which is why he went into social work, so he could do the most good for the most people.

"Bobby, he, uh, sent me inside to wait for my car to be fixed," Castiel rambles. He scratches the back of his head with his right hand and gestures out the window toward the open-air shop with the other. He was about to continue when the beautiful stranger cut him off.

"So you’re the guy I talked to on the phone. Cas, right?" the man asks, nodding in remembrance. He extends a hand to shake and continues. "I’m sorry, I’m Dean. I run the place with Bobby. He’s kinda like my, sorta-almost dad."

Castiel keeps eye contact as he takes Dean’s hand and shakes it. ”I see,” Castiel says. ”You look much different than I imagined.”

Dean flashes a smirk. ”Hopefully better,” he says.

The blush rises again in Castiel’s cheeks. That’s answer enough for Dean, as he chuckles and speaks again.

"You’re, uh…" He fumbles for words until he finds the right ones, "… Not bad yourself." Another smirk. Ugh, he’s so beautiful, Castiel thought.

It’s then that Castiel realizes they’re still holding eye contact, and holding hands that they’re not shaking, until he breaks both by looking out the window and scratching the back of his head again.

"What, you got fleas, Cas?" Dean asks, seemingly out of the blue.

Confused, Cas looks back at Dean and tilts his head, as if to ask, ‘What the hell?’ All he says though is “I’m sorry?”

Dean laughs. It’s beautiful. Heat rises again, and this time butterflies appear in Castiel’s stomach. He must look ridiculous, because he’s staring at the floor with great scrutiny and Dean is laughing louder.

Dean places a hand gently on Castiel’s shoulder, and it makes him jump a little and Dean laughs again. ”Hey, man, it’s a joke. You just, kept scratchin’ your head, is all.” Dean’s smile is disarming at least, enchanting at most. His laugh will echo in Castiel’s head and possibly heart until… well, forever. Castiel is such a romantic and he hates to admit it, but it’s true.

Castiel collects himself and looks at Dean, trying to not be obvious about how wonderful he thinks Dean’s laugh is or how smitten he is by him. ”I see,” he says simply.

Dean’s eyes are searching, combing through all possible human emotions as they exchange a silent - not awkward - moment. They’re just looking at each other. Their faces both ease into smiles that feel like they should be there all the time.

Castiel finds this comfortable. Familiar, even, as the green abyss swallows him, heart and soul all at once. He feels like he’s known this man forever when it’s only been a minute, not even.

Castiel decides then and there a few things. One, that he is going to see this man again. Two… that he’s going to see this man again. Okay, it was really one thing, Cas admits to himself, but the butterflies in his stomach are starting to form a whirlwind in his heart and his brain is completely blank but so completely full, full of Dean, of his laughter, his smile, the warm hand on his shoulder. He’s calm. And happy. Which is strange.

They stare into each other’s eyes, each other’s souls for what feels like a small eternity, until they hear a crash from outside and Bobby cursing loudly.

What a way to kill a moment.

Dean takes his hand off of Castiel’s shoulder, and suddenly the spot where it sat feels bare, too cold to bear. Castiel just keeps looking at and watching Dean, who looks out the window briefly, before turning back to present company.

"So I should probably go take a look at your car…" Dean starts.

"Yeah, probably."

Dean, for some reason, smiles at his voice, his too-deep voice. The smile halts for a moment, and his eyes narrow infinitesimally. ”Do you-” but he cuts himself off. ”Is your voice usually that low?”

Castiel is apprehensive. ”Yes. Why?”

Dean shakes his head. ”Oh. No reason. You just sound different than you did on the phone.”

Castiel smirks. ”The range on telephones isn’t very wide, causing my-“

"Your voice to get cut off at the low end," Dean finishes. "Yeah, that happens a lot, high and low frequencies get cut out be-"

"Because the average range of a telephone lies in the middle -"

"of the vocal spectrum," they finish together.

They’re smiling again. Like they’re the only people in the whole world. It’s perfect.

More banging and cursing from outside brings them both to the present again. This time, both of them speaking at the same time. Again.

"Maybe you should go out-" Castiel says but then he processes what Dean said:

"Do you wanna go out?"

Castiel just stops. He looks at Dean. Dean is obviously nervous, anxious about Castiel turning him down. Which, of course, he’s not about to do.

Castiel smiles softly. ”I’d love to.”

A moment passes. More ridiculous smiles. Castiel decides he likes to see Dean smiling.

"But first I’d like my car fixed."

"Yeah, yeah, right. Your car. But yeah. I’ll," Dean is fumbling again, and it’s endearing, so Castiel smiles again. "I’ll come back in and I’ll let you know." It’s clear Dean isn’t thinking too clearly because his words only vaguely make sense. Then again, it’s quite possible Castiel isn’t thinking very clearly, either.

"Yeah," he says and feels stupid, because it’s inadequate to say as a response. "That’d be nice."

Bumbling and stumbling out the door, Dean has a smile plastered to his face as he disappears from Castiel’s line of sight.

As he sits and waits and watches Dean work for the next four hours, he thanks whatever gods there are in the heavens that something’s wrong with his car today and that he has an awkwardly deep voice, because he’s talking with the most beautiful man alive and he’s got a date with this man and for God’s sake he’s happy for the first time since he moved here. This is something Cas, he goes by Cas because of this man, has never before dreamed of. This instant connection, practically love-at-first-sight. He shakes his head at the absurdity of it, but smiles nonetheless.

Sometimes it pays to be a hopeless romantic.


End file.
